New Republiic - After nearly two months of post-Thanksgiving semi-hibernation, Maine’s Senate race is waking up. Although Democratic primary voters won’t head to the polls until June to decide who will take on longtime GOP incumbent Susan Collins, Graham Platner, the progressive populist oyster farmer, resumed the town hall meetings that made him a sensation last summer and fall, while the state’s governor, the establishment-backed Janet Mills, has begun more actively campaigning than she had at any point last year.
In October, the primary seemed like it was over just as it was beginning. Platner was buried then in a wave of opposition research, namely involving revelations of his racist and sexist Reddit posts and a tattoo he had unknowingly gotten of a Nazi symbol. How could he possibly take down a popular sitting governor now? But the outsider candidate has remained remarkably resilient: He has continued to lead in many polls.
Mills, meanwhile, has to run a different campaign than she and her allies—including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is backing her—probably thought necessary when the oppo started raining down in the fall. While Platner has survived his scandals without seemingly losing much, if any, support, Mills is now running from behind and has to answer deep, lingering concerns about her age—78—and ties to a Democratic establishment many voters view with suspicion.
Not only that, but Mills has to deal with Collins, who is back to her old tricks. Last week, the senator announced that she had struck a deal with the Trump administration for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials—then busily raiding immigrant communities throughout Maine—to leave the state and halt “Operation Catch of the Day.” It was a classic maneuver from Collins, who has spent most of the last decade in an elaborate dance with Trump, sometimes pulling close and sometimes pushing away. And the implied message was hardly subtle: Collins was telling voters that she—not Platner or Mills—could dictate just how badly the Trump administration would affect their lives.
Press Heald - Supporters of a referendum that would bar transgender students from sports teams and private spaces that align with their gender identities said Monday they have collected enough signatures to force a statewide vote. The referendum would require Maine public school students to compete on teams and use restrooms, locker rooms and other private spaces based on the sex listed on their birth certificates.
Press Herald - The Portland City Council unanimously passed a resolution on Monday that asks Gov. Janet Mills to consider a 60-day eviction moratorium following the immigration enforcement surge in Maine, which has kept hundreds of working people at home. Several representatives from the Portland Tenants Union said Monday that the federal immigration enforcement campaign has forced families into hiding.